CHRISTIANSBURG -- It took Susan Horn of Dublin almost a year to claim the new car she won last October in the Virginia Lottery's Rag Top Riches scratch-off game.

But she showed up Thursday at Shelor Motor Mile in Christiansburg to receive her 2006 Ford Mustang GT convertible.

Horn said the delay was not due to the lottery people.

"It wasn't them. It was me. I didn't collect it," she said. "I didn't know what to do with it."

She is still uncertain whether she will keep or sell it.

But, sitting in it, she said, "It sure feels more normal than it does on a piece of paper."

Horn had been at home watching television when she scratched off her ticket and recognized the number.

She woke her husband, Gene, to tell him she thought they had won a car.

"We'll talk about it in the morning," he said, and rolled over and went back to sleep.

"Well, it was 2 o'clock in the morning, you know. He thought I was crazy," Horn said Thursday.

Horn said she had been told that she might also get a check for more than $700 because the car was standard shift rather than automatic. A lottery official at the presentation was unsure but said he would look into it.

"I don't mean to appear greedy. I thought it would cover my gas," Horn said.

-- Paul Dellinger